Mill D North Trail Big Cottonwood Canyon

Mill D North is located 9.6 miles up Big Cottonwood canyon. It sits directly across the road from the Cardiff Fork/ Doughnut Falls trail head. Heading up the trail, you begin to see across the canyon and the beauty of Cardiff Fork. As you continue the hike, you come to a nice rest area that is wooded, and provides a place to sit on some granite slabs. Just up ahead the trail curves north and moves you through a thick grove of aspen trees. As you round the hill, it descends slightly, into a nice little area with a small brook in the center of the fork. As you move on, the climb gets a bit steeper and you start to gain some elevation.

Then as you crest a small hill in between some aspens, the trail forks with a sign, if you continue north, you reach Dog Lake. If you go east you head for Desolation Lake.

I had planned on Dog Lake so I stuck with the plan. From this Y-Junction, The hike gains some more elevation, and you climb through the pines on your way to the lake. It seems like a long way the first time because your line of sight is cut off by the trees and how dense they are. A little farther up and you arrive. Dog Lake is a great little mountain lake for views, and people bring dogs up the Millcreek side, so it is almost like a park, but its great hike either way choose to get to it.

It was fall so the temperature exchanges between morning, noon, and night are extreme. The air was cool, but the sun was bright and made it very comfortable. A mist would form and seem to crawl across the lake and shore on the other side. A few picks and some relaxing in the sun and it was time to head down. The return is a great trail run because there are a lot of straight areas with really only small rocks and trail scrawl to negotiate as you make your way back. The sun was setting; it was fall so all the colors had just begun to change, so it was very colorful on the way back to the car. This is a great hike to just go to a mountain lake, relax and get some good exercise up and back down.

Trail Stats:

Big Cottonwood Canyon- Trail Head- 9.6 miles up canyon

Distance to Dog Lake- 2 miles

Elevation Gain- 1520 feet to 8760 feet

Hiking Time- 1hr 45 min

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